Ellen reads 75+ in '13 - Cool October

A bear in autumn at Mt. Rainier National Park

COMPLETED IN JANUARY

1. Howl by Allen Ginsberg
2. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
3. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
4. The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz
5. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
6. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden
7. 420 Characters by Lou Beach
8. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
9. The Line by Olga Grushin

COMPLETED IN FEBRUARY

10. Stay Awake by Dan Chaon
11. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
12. A Grain of Truth by Zygmunt Miloszewski
13. The Hill Bachelors by William Trevor
14. Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
15. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

COMPLETED IN MARCH

16. The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
17. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
18. Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs
19. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
20. Pow! by Mo Yan
21. The Door by Magda Szabo
22. Brothers and Keepers by John Edgar Wideman
23. This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski
24. The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri

COMPLETED IN APRIL

25. Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
26. Old Filth by Jane Gardam
27. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
28. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
29. Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
30. Raj, the Bookstore Tiger by Kathleen T. Pelley
31. Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 by Joe Sacco
32. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

COMPLETED IN MAY

33. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
34. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
35. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
36. Marbles by Ellen Forney
37. Slow River by Nicola Griffith
38. Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole J. Georges
39. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

COMPLETED IN JUNE

40. The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison
41. Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver
42. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker
43. The Likeness by Tana French
44. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
45. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
46. Voice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri
47. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
48. The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre
49. Escape to Gold Mountain by David H.T. Wong
50. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
51. That Mad Ache (also La Chamade) by Francoise Sagan

COMPLETED IN JULY

52. Cop Hater by Ed McBain
53. The Three-Arched Bridge by Ismail Kadare
54. The Mugger by Ed McBain
55. The Bat by Jo Nesbo
56. Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin
57. Pusher by Ed McBain
58. Night Soldiers by Alan Furst
59. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
60. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

COMPLETED IN AUGUST

61. Hide & Seek by Ian Rankin
62. Among Others by Jo Walton
63. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
64. Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
65. My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
66. The Carter Family: Don't Forget this Song by Frank M. Young & David Lasky
67. Light in August by William Faulkner
68. The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín
69. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

COMPLETED IN SEPTEMBER

70. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
71. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (writing as Claire Morgan)
72. The Road Home by Rose Tremain (gift from Paul)
73. The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst
74. The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger
75. The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson
76. Harvest by Jim Crace
77. Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani
78. Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger

COMPLETED IN OCTOBER

79. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
80. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
81. Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
82. Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie
83. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
84. In the Convent of Little Flowers by Indu Sundaresan
85. Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby

COMPLETED IN NOVEMBER

86. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
87. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel

Books Acquired in 2013

1. Call It What You Want by Keith Lee Morris
2. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum
3. Writing in the Dark: Essays on Literature & Politics by David Grossman
4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (sale table)
5. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (sale table)
6. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
7. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
8. The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre (purchased in Los Angeles)
9. The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín (purchased in Los Angeles)
10. The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
11. The Belly of Paris by Émile Zola
12. Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum
13. Germinal by Émile Zola
14. The Door by Magda Szabo (Book Depository)
15. Tokyo Fiancee by Amélie Nothomb
16. The Glass Ocean by Lori Baker (gift from Benita, to be released in August 2013)
17. Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-95 by Joe Sacco
18. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski
19. Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
20. My Century by Aleksander Wat
21. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
22. The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor (used copy)
23. knots and crosses by Ian Rankin (used copy)
24. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
25. Proud Beggars by Albert Cossery
26. Sandalwood Death by Mo Yan
27. Felicia's Journey by William Trevor (used copy)
28. Love and Summer by William Trevor (used copy)
29. My House in Umbria by William Trevor (used copy)
30. April Fool's Day by Josip Novakovich
31. Samuel Johnson is Indignant by Lydia Davis
32. A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch
33. Brothers and Keepers by John Edgar Wideman
34. Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman
35. The Quick Red Fox by John D MacDonald
36. Ten White Geese by Gerbrand Bakker
37. Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa
38. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
39. The Cat by edeet ravel
40. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker
41. The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison
42. Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin
42. Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
43. How It All Began by Penelope Lively
44. An Unsuitable Attachment by Barbara Pym
45. South Riding by Winifred Holtby (Virago Modern Classic)
46. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
47. Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning
48. Spoon River Anthology by Edward Lee Masters
49. The Threads of the Heart by Carole Martinez (lovely Europa Edition)
50. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
51. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
52. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
53. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
54. The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
55. Cheating at Canasta by William Trevor
56. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes
57. Remembering Laughter by Wallace Stegner
58. Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst
59. Dark Voyage by Alan Furst
60. Exodus by Leon Uris

More acquired in 2013

61. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
62. The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill
63. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
64. The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley
65. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
66. The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
67. Last Friends by Jane Gardam
68. The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich
69. Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler
70. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
71. The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
72. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
73. Me and Mr. Booker by Cory Taylor
74. Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole J. Georges
75. The Road Home by Rose Tremain (gift from Paul)
76. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
77. In One Person by John Irving
78. On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman (Booktopia)
79. A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers
80. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
81. The Goodbye Look by Ross MacDonald
82. That Mad Ache by Francoise Sagan
83. Privileged Conversation by Evan Hunter (total trash, I acknowledge)
84. A Deadly Shade of Gold by John D. MacDonald
85. Cop Hater by Ed McBain
86. The Mugger by Ed McBain
87. The Pusher by Ed McBain
88. The Con Man by Ed McBain
89. Killer's Choice by Ed McBain
90. Killer's Payoff by Ed McBain
91. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (gift from Kerri)
92. A Fairly Honorable Defeat by Iris Murdoch
93. The Bat by Jo Nesbo
94. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
95. Light in August by William Faulkner
96. The Cry of the Owl by Patricia Highsmith
97. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
98. The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper by John D MacDonald
99. Pale Gray for Guilt by John D MacDonald
100. King's Ransom by Ed McBain
101. Killer's Wedge by Ed McBain
102. Lady Killer by Ed McBain
103. As Long as You Both Shall Live by Ed McBain
104. Bread by Ed McBain
105. Let's Hear it for the Deaf Man by Ed McBain
106. Sadie When She Died by Ed McBain
107. Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here! by Ed McBain
108. Shotgun by Ed McBain
109. He Who Hesitates by Ed McBain
110. Ax by Ed McBain
111. Like Love by Ed McBain
112. The Empty Hours by Ed McBain
113. Lady, Lady, I Did It! by Ed McBain
114. See Them Die by Ed McBain
115. The Heckler by Ed McBain
116. Falling to Earth by Kate Southwood
117. The Bone People by Keri Hulme
118. Cavedweller by Dorothy Allison
119. The Art of Losing by Rebecca Connell
120. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
121. Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison
122. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
123. Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
124. The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo (sale book!)
125. A Curtain of Green by Eudora Welty (sale book!)
126. The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin

Still More Books Acquired in 2013

127. The Red House by Mark Haddon
128. Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
129. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
130. Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
131. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
132. The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon
133. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
134. Hild by Nicola Griffith
135. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
136. The Mystery of Rio by Alberto Mussa
137. Blonde: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates
138. The End of Alice by A.M. Homes
139. White Noise by Don DeLillo
140. Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom
141. The Progress of Love by Alice Munro
142. Mao II by Don DeLillo
143. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
144. The Outward Room by Millen Brand
145. The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
146. Journey into the Past by Stefan Zweig
147. Confusion by Stefan Zweig
148. The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay
149. Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh
150. Lenz by Georg Büchner
151. Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski.

Gorgeous pic! At first, I thought it was a painting, and it has reminded me to shift to the October page on my "Group of Seven" calendar....

Suzanne, I adore autumn colors and Mt. Rainier is one of the best places to see them.

Now that the new thread is up and running, it's time for me to go home and spend the evening with my book!
(but no wine)

Yay! Love that mountain.

So is it a painting or a photograph? I can't tell for sure. Either way, it's a great picture.

Good luck with the detox. The tough thing about eating is that it's so easy to shift into unhealthy habits but so much harder to shift back into healthier ones.

I have to admit that I gave up listing my book acquisitions for this year. The list was getting too long compared to the skimpy list of books I've read in 2013.

Hi Ellen- Congrats on your Cool October thread! I love the bear pic! Hope you have a great week.

What a beautiful, errrmmm, image at the top! Just as soothing as a cool drink on a hot day.

Happy New Thread, Ellen! That's a wonderful bear/Mt. Rainier picturel Very dramatic!
I'll list my new books. I'll even add them up at the end of the year. I will not keep a running total though. You're a brave woman.
(I see that one of your latest is The Polish Boxer. I did enjoy it 4½ stars worth, I see. Well worth the time spent on it!) (Oooo! Read The Bone People as quickly as you can get to it. 5 stars for me!)

Happy new thread!

As regards the red tea, according to Wikipedia:

Rooibos is a broom-like member of the legume family of plants growing in South Africa's fynbos. The generic name comes from the plant Calicotome villosa, aspalathos in Greek. This plant has very similar growth and flowers to the Rooi Bos.

Doesn't mean much to me, which is why I put in the pictures. Tastes good though!

What a gorgeous picture!

Happy new thread, Ellen!

That's where bears belong...not in my back yard rummaging through garbage cans!

You have the thread with the bear necessities Ellen dear. :)

>21 PaulCranswick: Thanks a lot. You gave me a brain worm. *grumbles*

I can't bear it either, Morphy.

Hi, Ellen. Congrats on the new thread. Wonderful pic up top.

Happy new thread, Ellen. Great pic. I love to look at all the books read at the top, too. You've done some great reading this year.

Another drop-in for your new thread, Ellen. Best wishes for your detox diet!

Love your picture as well. The colours in the front against the mountains at the back are such a great contrast.

80. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
3.5 stars

I'm not quite sure what to make of this novel, translated from the Italian. Told from the perspective of Elena Greco, a young girl growing up in a working class neighborhood in the the 1950s, and told through her adolescence, it explores the inner world of that young girl as she relates to her external world -- and how the random and fortuitous expansion of her world beyond the neighborhood changes her relationships with family, custom, culture.... Girls had limited options in her day and time and place, and Elena's longing for love and belonging clashes with her natural curiosity and courage.

I struggled through the middle section only to be very glad I did. I became deeply engaged and curious for the last two fifths of the narrative and, despite my own frustration with the boundaries of our narrator's world, limited by her gender and her social class and the times in which she lived, I found myself rooting for her expansion as she comes of age.

This is a Europa Edition, quite lovely.

Next up:

Hi Ellen - Nice review of My Brilliant Friend. It sounds like I don't have to rush to read it.

#29
ON-the-other-hand, Ellen finished it and didn't remark about the poor ending. Maybe I should move this one up in the TBR pile?

I listened to a Nancy Pearl podcast today and she was interviewing Craig Johnson. He said that he always struggles with the ending of a novel. Then I listened to Guy Gavriel Kay and he said the same thing. Maybe Ellen is right and the ending of a novel is really the most difficult part of the writing?

Beth, I don't know that you need to rush to read it, but it was an intriguing read and I'm glad I read it. Benita (and others who have said so) is right -- I can be a tough customer, especially in the last quarter of a novel. The fact that My Brilliant Friend improved as I read is something.

Benita, I'm glad you appreciate my "hard to please" attitude toward novel endings. :-)
I have heard that ending a novel well is, by far, the most difficult part of writing one. It seems to hold true...... That, and I'm distractible.

#12 - Karen, she is our grandmother. :-)

#13 - Pat, I believe it's a photograph, but I will go back and check.
Today is Day Four of the Clear Out and so far it's feeling good. That is NOT to say that I'm not craving sugar, but I already feel better in my body.
This will definitely be the last year I track/list book acquisitions. I've learned what I needed to learn: I buy too many books. It's not likely to change, so why track it?

#14 - Mark, thank you for stopping by. I need to visit your thread and let you know that I found and purchased some Enjoy By ale. I can't drink it until after this Clear Out, but I'll have five days before its expiration date..... Heh.

#15 - Richard, I'm glad you like my bear thread topper!

#16 - Peggy, okay, both The Bone People and The Polish Boxer are moving up on my list. Maybe they would be good November reads. There was talk around here about a Group Read of The Bone People but I honestly can't recall what month we bandied about.....

#17 - Lisa, perhaps I will try the red (rooibos) tea. As it gets colder and darker, I tend toward more hot tea drinking. Also, last evening I had a mug of Allegro's "Peaceful Slumber" tea and I did, indeed, sleep well and long.

#18 - Joanne, and #19 - Mamie, glad you like my Mt. Rainier bear!

#20 - Linda, I agree! My sister lives in Asheville and her condo buts up onto a wooded area. They have two mom bears, each with a pair of cubs, wandering through their back yard area regularly!

#21 - Very cute, Paul. :-)

#22 - Morphy, you could go to Paul's thread and leave him a brain worm in return. I won't make suggestions here..... at our house, we have finally trained one another not to say the rest of the paragraph that starts with "I have this miserable song stuck in my head..." Yes, well, please don't share.

#23 - Joe, groooan :-)

#24 - Beth, I think 2013 has been one of my best-ever reading years. The number is fast approaching a Personal Record, but the best part has been the variety of genres and authors I have explored. LibraryThing has vastly expanded my reading lexicon!

#25 - Roni, thank you for the drop-in and the good wishes for my detox. So far (day four), so good!

#26 - Rhian, those color contrasts were what attracted me to the picture. I googled Mt. Rainier and fall colors and this was my favorite find. I like the bear, too. :-)

Okay, if you hate college football, you might as well leave the thread right now. I am SOOOOO excited! ESPN College GameDay is coming to Seattle and the U-Dub this Saturday!!!!! Our #16 Huskies are playing the #2 evil Ducks of Oregon. The Saturday morning show will showcase our beautiful campus and, of course, the fabulous city of Seattle. I do believe UW is the only university where tailgating occurs on boats right outside the stadium..... I'm a total geek about this show. I get up and watch it every Saturday morning. I pay less attention to the details of the football, itself, than I do the highlighting of the universities and students around the country. Well, and I do like college football, feminist and educator sensibilities notwithstanding.



And Kirk Herbstreet (far right) is so dang cute!

So, of course feel free to just ignore this, but if you'd like to see some images of my university, tune in at 9am Eastern time (and if you're on the west coast, feel free to sleep in some -- the show airs live but if you are up and watching by 7am or even 8am, you'll see some great views). For most of you, ignoring the football talk will be a challenge but you can always hit "mute"!

Oh, and I will be at the game, and it looks like I might get VIP tickets to tour the GameDay set......

Did I mention that I'm excited??

This is an image of the stadium before the renovation was completed this summer. Even if you don't like football, it's hard not to admit that this is a gorgeous city. That is Mt. Rainier in the background.

I don't blame you a bit for being excited, Ellen! I also love College Game Day, and it is one of the few shows I actually miss since canceling our cable service!

Katie, oh whew. I'm glad not to be the only reader-and-college-football geek around here!

Dubs is excited about GameDay, too!!!

Pretty poochie!

OK, Ellen, as a U Dub Alumnus I feel compelled to watch this show. Would you be so kind as to tell me which channel it is on, Saturday morning. I'm always up early early early so I'm sure I can watch every minute of it.

Whoo hoo! Go Huskies!

Popping in for a quick hello Ellen.

Hi Ellen - I've never watched that ESPN show, but the setting for your stadium is gorgeous. I might tune in to check it out. It might be a good program to grade by.

Wow, Ellen! What a spectacular venue! Good luck to the Huskies.....until they play the Bukeyes that is ;0)

^Yes, I started it and I am scared and nervous. I could have used a little hand-holding here. LOL.
Hope your week is going well.

Great. Bears.
When I was listening to relaxation techniques preparing for surgery, I had to pick a safe, calm place in my mind. I immediately thought of the 'Mt Rainier and flowers' picture you posted awhile back. Although I've never been there, I imagined sights, sounds, smells, light, etc... it was so peaceful. I was so there.
But - um...you never mentioned bears! yikes.
Now I'll have to pick a new place if I ever need to relax again!

You obviously did not watch the PBS Frontline show in football. The title was "League of Denial" but it was about so much more.

I had to go buy some electronic equipment tonight and can't believe that I had to pay $85.00 for the cheapest recording device that Best Buy had on the racks. Tape recorders used to be $20.00. What's up with that? How do people who are techno junkies keep up with the cost of these materials?

The answer is - they can't. Guess that is why my house has bee broken into twice.

Hi Ellen, for a second there I thought you had taken that bear shot at the top. I was thinking, I hope you have a zoom lens for that one!!
Have you/do you see bears....much?

Poor Cee, I see, has had her senses awakened now to the presence of bears ;)

#40 - He is indeed quite handsome, Richard. I'm glad you agree.

#41 - Karen! You must watch! I'll be there a little before 5am (ugh). The show starts at 6am but I usually don't start watching until 7am on a normal Saturday. They were setting up on Red Square today; Suzzallo Library will be the backset. It's on ESPN, which at my house is channel 745 (or 45 if not in HD).

#42 - Roberta! Good to see you and I will visit your thread soon.

#43 - Beth, I think with the volume at the appropriate level, it would be a good show with which to grade papers. As I said above, they are setting up so that Suzzallo Library will be the backset. It's an amazing building in the heart of campus.



Suzzallo Library on the University of Washington Campus

I wish they would show some of the inside of Suzzallo Library. This is the reading room:

#44 - Lynda, I doubt our teams will meet but if we upset the Ducks this Saturday it will help your Buckeyes of THE Ohio State University!

#45 - Mark! You started it! I have it in the stack on the bedside table, but I have Ammonite and Americanah from the library and I'll have to return them..... How far into it are you?

#46 - Cee! No! You can still use Mt. Rainier and the lovely wildflower meadows! I've been there dozens of times and I've only seen a bear once. He was, quite to my satisfaction, over on a ridge quite a distance from the ridge on which I was hiking.

Think of beargrass, not bears!

image deleted

#47 - Benita, well, I didn't watch the show but I do know about the prevalence of concussions among football players, especially the new research that is showing that they are prone to problems later in life due to many, usually undetected, "micro-concussions." Not to be an apologist for the sport, but they have really cracked down on making players sit out if they have any, even slight, indication of head injury. Still, it's a dangerous game and I'm glad I don't have a son who wants to play it. But I love the game anyway. It's hard to explain why.

$85 seems like a lot for a recording device!

#48 - Megan, a thing to know about me is that I almost never take my own photos. Well, that's not true. I take them, but they rarely turn out very well and I'm quite lazy about uploading them and posting them.

I've only seen a bear at Mt. Rainier once and that was in 1995, my first summer in the Pacific Northwest. He was very far away. Which was fine with me.

I'm hoping Cee can use beargrass in her next relaxation imagery exercise! :-)

Ellen- Americanahis great! I hope you get to it. I just got a note that Children of the Jacaranda Tree is waitin for me at the library.

....I almost never take my own photos.
Roger that!
I take more than I can handle.

#53 - Beth, I hope you enjoy Children of the Jacaranda Tree. I'll read Americanah next, even if I have to pay a bit of a fine at the library.....

#54 - my iPhone is full of mediocre photos, Megan! :-)

I received the email from the Alumni Association suggesting if I show up in front of the library they will give me a cup of coffee! Ha! I would love to have that much commitment, but really I can't do it. It is my kind of activity, no doubt, being a natural born promoter but I'll pass. Too far, too early and I'd be the only member of the Class of '66 in the neighborhood who was even vaguely awake.

I will however do my best to watch ESPN on TV in the morning, and I'll watch for you.

I agree the library is beautiful. Imagine, when I was there it was surrounded by grassy fields with a few paths. None of this acres of bricks which is Red Square. It was so beautiful in the spring. And I loved walking into the reading room and settling down to read. It was quiet and peaceful and perfect for concentration!

Have a good deal of fun!

I have a postcard of that library. I actually interviewed for a job there, but did not get it. I got to see the reading room. I'll bet that reading room seldom looks like it does in that picture as it is probably full of students - if it is anything like our library. However, it is very old-fashioned. Our library leadership is trying to get rid of all of those big old cathedral of learning type library reading rooms. They want more contemporary looks. One even said that they wanted the interior to look like an internet cafe. So we have kidney shaped white Formica tables with white computers. 150 of them in our main reading room. The floor is carpeted a charcoal grey and the walls are turquoise and white. All of this inside of a building that looks like a 1920's library complete with huge Antebellum columns outside. Quite a contrast.

Karen, I have to say that if I weren't currently employed there, I would be unlikely to get up that early in the pitch dark and travel to the site. However, I do have my "Beat the Ducks" t-shirt on today. Enjoy watching in the warmth of your home with Benny and Greta-girl.

Benita, it's a lovely reading room and it is often full of students on their laptops.
I'm sure none of them are checking FaceBook. :-|

That library is gorgeous! I'm a huge fan of old fashioned cathedral style libraries. I love the modern ones too, but I think we should preserve the old, not replace.

Have fun at your game.

Roberta, I agree and thank you.

Day Five. Breakfast was eggs with spinach, cheese and salsa. Damn, I wanted to eat that tortilla!

OH MY! What a gorgeous library! Must cost a mint to heat though. I would gladly bundle up to use that reading room :)
Wish I had known about that library when I was choosing a college - back in '66 :-)

Unfortunately, I can't see whatever picture you posted for beargrass. (I'm going to google it.) And I do have to admit, I would not be relaxing if I saw a bear even at a great distance on another ridge. I suppose I could imagine a sweet tame bear. No. That doesn't work. lol
I'll hope for no more need to relax - or choose another spot.
Dang. I even had thoughts of visiting that flowery meadow someday.

Have a great weekend - even if it does involve football! Ha!

Happy weekend, Ellen!

Two more book acquisitions:

The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (see, I liked My Brilliant Friend well enough to get its sequel)
The Mystery of Rio by Alberto Mussa

Both are lovely Europa Editions.

CEE, sorry about that broken photo link. I'll fix it later. Beargrass is one of my favorite mountain wildflowers.

Thank you, Richard! It will be an early Saturday morning for me but I'll have a book in my bag for the down times!

Here is another photo of Beargrass.

Ah, THIS beargrass picture I can see. Is it called that because it attracts bears? And what a beautiful library and reading room--such a treasure!

The white-flowering stuff or the purple-flowering stuff? Either way, it's very pretty.

So, I have a story about that library. In 1963, my side-kick Suzi and I were poking around in the corners, in the back, in the darker places in that library one day, and found a little door which was unlocked. We opened it and followed some small stairs up and found ourselves outside, on a little roof area. We looked over towards the Student Union building (the HUB) and saw that the flag was flying, half-staff. Very curious, we worked our way back into the library proper, packed up our books and walked over the the HUB. It was November 22, 1963. A very memorable day, sadly, when President John F Kennedy was shot in Dallas, TX.

Oh! Beargrass is beautiful... but if it attracts bears, I hope I never see it for real near Mt Rainier ;-)
Thanks for the photo.

Roni, I don't actually know why it's called beargrass. I don't think it attracts the critters.

Richard, the white-flowering stuff is beargrass.

Karen, that is a wonderful (terrible) story! I wonder if you would remember the little unlocked door and a few moments on the roof of Suzzallo Library if it weren't otherwise one of those days that everyone (who was alive and conscious) remembers? That day is actually one of my earliest memories. I was 3 years old and my mother was crying, overwrought with grief, and I didn't know why.

Cee, I'm glad you like the photo. No worries; I've seen lots of beargrass and nary a bear. :-)

I saw the Europa edition of Mystery of Rio and have to admit that I was tempted. So far the Europa editions I have read have been good books and I think we need more translated books coming into our book shops. Of course, we also need more readers as well.

Like that photo of the beargrass, Ellen. Almost looks extraterrestrial.

Turns out we won't be in Seattle this month or next, unfortunately. #1 son has fly-ins and fly-outs going on, so we'll probably visit in February.

A cathedral to read in and bear grass! I can skip the football and look at the good stuff!
My Kennedy assassination memory also involves a flag. I got back to my dorm room after hearing the news and saw the flag at the elementary school down the street still flying high. It bothered me so much - something to focus on, I guess - that I called the office and told them what had happened so that they'd put it at half-mast.
Ammonite, I loved; Slow River a little less. And 2666 is amazing - nobody should fear it except in the way that you feel awe for any one-of-a-kind marvelous book.

Good Saturday morning, Ellen. I know this is silly of me to post here now (6:09 AM) because I know you are in Red Square helping make all that noise on College Gameday on ESPN. The library looks beautiful all lit up in the dark morning. And the crowd looks huge! What a nice advertisement for the UW spirit.

Apparently it was Lewis of Lewis and Clark who so named it - as it was similar to a 'beargrass' back east. It is sometimes - and arguably more accurately - called Indian basket grass as wonderful airtight baskets can be made of the stalks. - You could even boil water in them!
I found this info in a Lewis and Clark website - looked at others but this had the most info and looked accurate.

Whew - I was up at 4am, on Red Square by 5am, and stood on my feet for four hours to watch this show. It was completely worth it! I even got to shake hands with Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, and Kirk Herbstreit (twice)! Afterwards, I treated myself to a leisurely browse at the U Bookstore where I only bought one book, and then I enjoyed a leisurely bowl of Pho, and now I'm in my office thinking about taking a nap before game time. I'm going to be SO tired tonight!

I got to go up on stage before the show started and this is the view from there:

Benita, reading more international literature has been one of the gifts of my finding LibraryThing. I'm hoping to continue reading in this direction. As Amos Oz said, "the best way to learn the soul of another country is to read its literature." So true.

Joe, well, I'll look forward to a Seattle meet-up in February, then!

Peggy, Peggy, do feel free to ignore the football stuff on my thread. But I do hope it doesn't keep you (or others) from visiting.
Thanks for sharing your JFK flag memory!

I am very much enjoying Ammonite. So far, I think I like it better than Slow River, although that one has a bit of a sentimental favorite thing going for me (for reasons into which I will not go). I will read 2666 but I have to say that I'm probably going to wait until 2014. I know it's silly, but I established this goal of completing 100 books in 2013, something I have never done, and if I read a tome like 2666 in this last quarter, I'll never make it. Next year I plan to revert to the advertised 75 Books goal, but just this once, I want to make it to 100. It's kind of like that one time I wanted to run a complete marathon. I did it and I'm glad I did it but my busy life will not allow me to do it again. :-)

Karen!! It was beautiful. Suzzallo Library was lovely, and they had all the lights on in Gerberding and Kane Halls, as well. The crowd was large and raucous. It was cool that it started in pitch dark and drizzly weather -- a perfect advertisement for Seattle. Heh. I got to chat with some of the folks who actually put on this amazing production, and they said this was the largest crowd they've had in quite a while -- and it was the most signs they've had in a really long time. U-Dub was hungry for this.

Lucy!! Thank you for actually doing some research about Beargrass. It's one of my favorite blooms and one actually has to be in the mountains at just the right time; the blooming season is quite short. I think the somewhat rare sighting of a field of beargrass in full bloom makes it more beloved. And I love knowing that its stalks were (and perhaps are) used for weaving baskets by native people. I will now think of that every time I see it blooming.

According to the botanical info, if you want to see more blooms, burn the beargrass-bearing field. The National Park Service and the Forest Service folks can't tell you not to, thanks to the Teaholes in Congress! Take advantage.

^LOL! Yeah, I think I'll pass on that and just try to get to the mountains every spring. :-)
It would probably be good for the overall ecosystem, but I don't trust myself with a book of matches.

Ellen - I totally blanked on your show. :( It sounds like you had a fantastic time though.

I love international literature and feel I have learned a lot from it. I'm proud of myself for reading so many new-to-me authors this year.

I totally understand the 100 goal. Go Ellen!

Beth, it's okay. If you're not really into it, the show might have been disappointing. I had a blast, though, and was pleased with the press it gave this university (isn't it weird how one can become "proud" of an institution of higher education at which one works?).

I'm proud of myself for reading so many new-to-me authors this year.
I feel the same way. I know I've said it before, but the degree to which LT has expanded my reading horizons is, to me, remarkable. And something with which I am very happy.

Thanks for the cheers toward 100, Beth! I hope Mark will forgive me for bailing on him in the reading of 2666.

I am so glad you had a great time this morning.

Are you planning on making the RL Book group on Monday? It is that time again! And you can come tell us why the steam punk book did not work for you. I'll be interested in hearing....

I've recently read Ammonite and enjoyed it.

I tuned into ESPN this morning just to see your campus, Ellen! That library is a thing of beauty! Of course, after the show our Georgia Bulldogs lost to Missouri, such is life. It's a big deal down here in the South - college football is practically a religion.

Hope the rest of your very long day was just as much fun as the beginning. Wishing for you a weekend filled with fabulous!

uh oh..... I did it again. Missed a new thread :( sorry. Ammonite looks good...
Bear looks adorable and squooshy

"I hope Mark will forgive me for bailing on him." Of course I do, my friend. It's a Big Boy and it is not a page-burner. So far, I like it though and I am glad I dove in.

I hope you are having a great weekend.

Karen, yes I had a really wonderful time. Watching the production of a show like that was fascinating. The football game itself was disappointing but I loved my spot: I get to stand on the sidelines and I'm really just feet from the field. The students were loud and excited (until the Ducks pulled away in the fourth quarter).

I do plan to come to TPB Book Club tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the conversation and the company.

Rhian, Ammonite is a pleasure to read.

Mamie, thank you for tuning in to see a bit of our campus! I thought of you when I learned that the Tigers had upset your Bulldogs. MY colleague Pam, who stood by me through the whole morning watching the show be produced, went to Georgia and she was in the same boat with you later. College football in the south is, indeed, practically a religion.

Kath, it's okay. Threads have a way of steamrolling along, don't they? I don't know if the bear is squooshy, but I agree that he is adorable.

Mark, I was pretty sure you would say that. I'm glad you are enjoying it and I will get to it, hopefully in 2014.
So far, my weekend has been wonderful and exhausting. I need to stay off my feet today.

Okay, I'm about 2/3 through Ammonite and I have a library copy of Americanah on my bedside table. I also have An Unsuitable Attachment, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and The Book Thief on the bedside table, having said I would read them this month. And I just got word that The Lowland and Housekeeping vs. the Dirt are waiting for me to pick up at the library. And I need to read Strengths Based Leadership for this presentation I'm doing in two weeks.....

This is what happens.

I swear, I need more hours in my week.

Solution to reading dilemma is to get on the bus in the morning and tell the driver you are only getting off for lunch and then you will rejoin him until the last route.

Don't tell your boss.

>90 EBT1002: And some extra eyes that can read independently of the rest of you.

Roberta and Richard , such helpful tips you provide!

I'm going to see if I can concentrate on just a wee bit of reading while I watch the Seahawks. Ha!

My, that library is gorgeous, both inside and out.

Hi Ellen - I know what you mean. There's always next month. Of all your choices, I've read them all except the leadership one, and I would go with Americanah.

Linda, it makes me want to just hunker down in there and read.

Beth, thanks for the weigh-in. It's due back to the library soon and I won't be able to renew it, so I'll probably follow your advice.

Caroline (Cameling) is hosting this year's holiday Book Swap. Join us!

>90 EBT1002: you need a snow storm, some minor flooding or a gentle illness to see you safely stuck at home for a few days. Then you can catch up!

^ Indeed, Megan! I'd take the snow storm most happily!!

There's a book swap? How interesting!

Ellen, it sounds like you have some real book pressure. That's what happens when one has a life! Your day sounds like a fun one despite the early hour and losing team. Your university library is gorgeous. The inside reminds me of a cathedral. No wonder you have such school spirit.

I had this tall weedy looking stuff growing outside my house just off the patio. For most of the summer I was cutting it down because to me it looked like ragweed. Then I noticed that some of the tall stalks were getting a bloom on them. (Small white flowers that looked sort of like a daisy.) I let them grow. This afternoon a member of my book discussion group who was at my house for our monthly discussion told me that it was an old fashioned plant called fleabane and that bees love it. Upon inspection, sure enough there were lots of bees to be seen on those small flowers. Net year I won't mow them.

Mark - Ha! Lucy has so kindly picked up your mantel. I assume you'll be joining us. :-)

Donna, yes, but I'm trying not to let it be real pressure. I'm very much enjoying Ammonite and I'm trying to just stay in that zone. And I agree; I think the Suzzallo Library (it is, of course, only one of several libraries on the UW campus) is beautiful and that reading room is breathtaking.

Benita, oh good, a plant to keep next year! We have tons of bees in our garden during the summer, all kinds of bees. I love them. I hate yellow jackets but I don't think of them as bees; they are so aggressive which most bees are not. Enjoy!

hullo, E. a belated shout out to your threadtopping bear and your bear grass. cool stuff. :-)

oh, you have The book thief coming up. i finished it a few weeks ago and it's one of my best of the best for 2013. astounding!

>102 benitastrnad: Benita, we have some fleabane in the yard, but they're trumped by our wild asters, which are similar in appearance. they're hideous until they bloom and then the whole yard hums and buzzes wonderfully. we've actually got honey bees in them this year. since we haven't reached fall yet, and who knows when it will happen, they're still blooming madly. we have tiny whites, yellow and purple.

cheers.

^ Ellie, thanks for stopping by. I do try to have nice pictures for visitors to enjoy. :-)

I don't know how soon I'll really get to The Book Thief, although I very much want to read it. I fear that all these library books will take priority, what with due dates and all....

I hope you have a calm week.

>100 msf59: you see, Mark- it goes like this...everyone PMs the organiser with their address, and....hang on a minute! I think you know ALL about how it works ;)

>102 benitastrnad:, 104 we have one or the other of those in abundance at the edge of our yard (we have a wooded lot next to us), and I argue with my husband every year about cutting it down; when the blossoms come out he always remarks how pretty it looks, but until then he's itching to chop away at it.

Hi Ellen- Caroline is running the Swap, not Lucy. We have to keep things neat & tidy over here. LOL. Caro offered to help with the Swap last year and I decided to let her give it a go. She looks like she will do a stellar job. I know she'll have many more people to deal with.

Megan- Thanks for helping out the clueless one. LOL.

I hope the week flies by, so you can get to next weekend in a hurry :)

*strolling past* Just caught up, and saying Hi!

I'm another one who was knocked on my keister by The Book Thief. Terrific book.

I think I'm going to wait for Americanah to come out in paperback, although I may not be able to be that patient. Glad Ammonite is continuing to hold up.

The fleabane is really pretty, but like somebody above said - when it was growing it looked just like Goldenrod, or Pigweed. Ugly. That was why I was pulling it or cutting it. However, next year I will let it grow as right now it is very pretty, not to mention all that humming activity.

Does anybody know why it got the name Fleabane?

I think it was dried and used as a flea repellent. Don't know if it worked...

Count me as a third that was blown away by The Book Thief. Excellent!

Sorry for the lapse in my visits, Ellen dear. I'll try to do better. :(

Is this the fleabane we're talking about?

Looks like it, except mine has a bright yellow center that the really attracts bees. (I think those little critters are frantically trying to make the last honey of summer.) That is definitely the structure of the plant. It is tall. At least 36 inches.

those are the seed pods of fleabane which, as it turns out, is related to our wild asters. actually, those look like our asters. and lo, according to Wikipedia, there are cultivars, so i guess fleabane is now stylin' thanks to a little gene-tinkering. cultivars of fleabane. g'wan!

I had a good time at RL Book Club this evening. We only briefly discussed Boneshaker and everyone was very respectful of my mediocre review. We started talking about next year's reads -- oh boy.

I also completed a mini-splurge, all but one of them (the DeLillo) used copies:

Blonde: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates
The End of Alice by A.M. Homes
White Noise by Don DeLillo
Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom
The Progress of Love by Alice Munro

>106 LovingLit: Megan, you tell him. :-)

>107 laytonwoman3rd: Linda, you know what they say: a weed is just a plant out of place. Heh.

>108 msf59: Mark, ACK! I'm the clueless one! I knew Caroline was doing the swap. Ergh, I hate when I do that.

>109 mckait: Kath, in all honesty, I hope the week flies by, too.

>110 maggie1944: Karen, nice stroll-by. It was good to see you this evening, as always.

>111 jnwelch: Joe, I'll definitely get to The Book Thief one of these days. I was also thinking about waiting for Americanah to come out in paperback but since I got it from the library, I'm going to give it a go.

>112 benitastrnad: Benita, I have no idea.

>113 laytonwoman3rd: But Linda does! I have my doubts about it working to repel fleas because in my experience, nothing repels fleas. Ugh.

>114 TinaV95: Tina, it's okay. I know you have a lot going on these days. I'm glad you stopped by and, like I said to Joe, I will read The Book Thief one of these days.

>115 richardderus: Richard, I have no idea if that is fleabane. I don't actually know one thing about fleabane other than what folks have shared here in the last couple of days. But now I will recognize it when I see it! Benita confirms.

>117 mirrordrum: Ellie, cracking me up! Fleabane is now a hip flower. Gotta love it.

I love the folk-y names of plants, because you can often deduce some of their characteristics from what people who encountered them daily chose to call them. Dandelion (another member of the same family as fleabane) is called "pee the bed", or some variation of that, in several different languages, because the roots are a strong diuretic. (Ragweed is related to both of those plants as well.) The lovely morning glory is part of a family of plants often called "bindweed" because of its propensity to grow long tough and tangled roots that can choke out other plants, and be a real problem in cropland. And thus ends our botany lesson for today. *brushes chalk dust from cardigan*

>120 laytonwoman3rd: I thought when you said "bindweed" that maybe it would be good for diarrhea. Ha!

I don't like bees. As in I'm phobic. So no fleabane for me! Or any flowers around the front door really.

I thought I was going to luck out this year. We haven't had any bees or wasps in the house and Morphy hasn't had the screaming-meemies. But then, of course, as soon as I thought that... yep. Not one... but two! Arrrrrgh!

Ellen, it was a delight to see you last night, too; and, I was very impressed by our good turn out. It sure would be nice if everyone was "regular" and came all the time. Maybe we need to be very careful about which books we choose for 2014. Or maybe I need to just relax... ha ha ha

If I can make some good progress in Good Omens I might be able to jump into the Alice Munro reading you and Mark are planning. Castle Rock? sounds good

Linda, I love that! It's interesting to me that you mention both Dandelions and bindweed, because both are the bane of my gardening efforts. They both do quite well here and neither is easy to control. I once heard someone say of bindweed: "Of course you can get it out of your garden. Simply pull it out weekly for ten years." Right.

The folk names are wonderful and they put me in mind of some kind of good novel, though I don't have a clear idea what.

Morphy, I think it would be very frightening to be allergic to bees. I'm not, but I did get stung by a yellow jacket several years ago. I was in the garden in sandals and he got me right between my toes. Of course, I just rubbed cortisone cream on it and carried on, and two days later my foot was swollen to twice its size. Yep, I had essentially rubbed cortisone cream (and garden dirt) into a puncture wound and it got infected. The doc said that if antibiotics had not yet been invented, I would have lost the foot and perhaps died. Yikes!

Karen, I do think the books we choose has an impact on attendance, but there will likely be some months when things just come up. Now that I'm in the habit and the drive is one I can do on auto-pilot, I plan to attend regularly. And even if we occasionally foray into a genre that is not my favorite, I'm all about trying new things, so that is good. It was an interesting idea to dedicate one year completely to books written by non-US authors. I don't know if we really want to do that but it would make for an interesting 2015.... :-)

Did you pick up a copy of Good Omens at TPB last evening? And I hope you can join us for The View from Castle Rock in November. In between prepping your house for sale!

The doctor and I believe I'm allergic to bees. I had a very strong reaction to a sting so now I have an Epipen to carry around.

My mother is allergic to bee stings, and as a kid I was terrified that one would sting her. She carried an actual hypodermic needle and a bottle to fill it from in the days before the Epipen.

Ellen, yes I did pick up Good Omens last night, and I bought a Kindle version of The View from Castle Rock this morning. I would love to do a "group" read with you and Mark. What an interesting trio we could make, maybe we can attract some more readers, too.

Happy Hump Day, Ellen. Downward slide to the weekend commences now!

Hump DAAAAY!! Woo hoo! I'm glad this week is almost half over. Making minimalist plans for the weekend, including some time reading.

Finished Ammonite - more about that later.
Almost finished with Strengths Based Leadership - more about that later.
Started Housekeeping vs the Dirt and Americanah. More about that later, too.

I have to run off to work but thought I would at least pop in and say hello!

Ooooo... I think I would like Housekeeping vs the Dirt!
Do I need to add more books to my TBR? not really... but I might like his style. I do like the title!
Waiting to hear more...

Anxious to hear what you think of your current reading.

Love the week talk here! And I'm excited that Karen is reading Good Omens!

Morphy and Linda, I feel very lucky not to have any major allergies, including bees because I love them!

Karen, I will see about putting Good Omens on hold for our November book club and I'm very glad you'll be joining us for The View from Castle Rock. I predict that Mark will be able to rustle up a decent group of readers for that one; it's made easier by her recent award.

Cee, I've only read the introduction but I've already put two page markers in Housekeeping vs. the Dirt. I think it's going to be a winner.

Beth, I need to write reviews for Ammonite and Strengths Based Leadership (I'm guessing your expressed interest is not so much in the latter). I drove today so I didn't get much reading time. Also, P and I are going to a water exercise class at one of the local community centers this evening so I may fall behind a bit....

Roni, glad you visited. I'll be joining Karen for Good Omens in time for our November book club.

81. Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
3.5 stars

I enjoyed this good, solid novel by Seattle-based Nicola Griffith. It's Science Fiction in that it is set on another world far into the future, but this is a very character-driven narrative. Our heroine, Marghe, arrives on the planet knowing she will be infected by a deadly virus. She has with her a limited supply of an experimental vaccine that will allow her to explore the communities on the planet while learning whether the vaccine works. It does work (that's no spoiler; this is obvious early on) and then all the fantastical futuristic novelties fade into the background while we travel with Marghe. We travel inward with her while we explore the strange societies with whom she interacts. At times, this novel felt like a tribute to the author's therapist. Marghe's self-discovery and her progress toward allowing herself to be fully herself is, I know, a profound journey. But Griffith feeds it to us a bit too directly, which lost her half a star.

Still, this is an enjoyable and engaging story, the characters (all female, but not dying out, which I hope makes you curious) are likable, and Griffith does some interesting and subtle things with gender. I hope more readers discover this author's work.

82. Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie

Leader, know thyself. And know thy team. And get on with getting stuff done.

Based on polls, interviews, and extensive research, Rath has developed a schema for articulating the strengths of effective leaders. Describing four broad categories of leadership qualities -- Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking -- the authors emphasize that no effective leader is outstanding in all areas. Rather, effective leaders know their own strengths, use them well, and surround themselves with team members who have complementary strengths. So, effective leaders don't have to (and, indeed, cannot) embody all dimensions of good leadership, but effective teams must embody and embrace the diversity of leadership strengths.

#133 Marghe's self-discovery and her progress toward allowing herself to be fully herself is, I know, a profound journey. But Griffith feeds it to us a bit too directly, which lost her half a star. That's very much what I felt about Ammonite as well: it would have been a better book without so much navel gazing and (for me anyway) a little too much mysticism. But a good read and some very interesting ideas about gender and society.

oh, gosh! I am thinking Ammonite might be a book I'd like. Sigh. I have so many books waiting around for me to read them. The Real Estate ladies will be telling me to get them hidden.... too much clutter? Good review, Ellen. And oddly enough I'm interested in the Rath and Conchie book, too. Double sigh.

Currently reading:

Rhian, I'm glad to hear that I wasn't the only one with that reaction. Still a good read, but I always want an author to let us fill in some of those intrapsychic themes with our own material.

Karen, I do believe you would enjoy Ammonite. I will be returning my copy to the library this weekend..... heh. Maybe the real estate ladies would be less ferocious about a library book sitting on the buffet? And the Strengths Based Leadership is a very quick read. I'd be happy to bring it to book group next month for you to peruse - and borrow if you'd like. (You may have to remind me to bring it.)

Thanks, Ellen, I might like looking at the leadership book, especially if I end up as Board Chairman in the homeowners' association.

I'll stick Ammonite on to the Wish List, too. Good job, girl.

You've got me intrigued by Ammonite, too, Ellen. Can't wait to hear your reaction to Americanah.

Downward slide into weekend bliss initiated....

Small splurge yesterday -- all on sale!

Mao II by Don DeLillo
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore (NYRB edition)
The Outward Room by Millen Brand (NYRB edition)
The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis (NYRB edition)
Journey into the Past by Stefan Zweig (NYRB edition)
Confusion by Stefan Zweig (NYRB edition)
The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay (NYRB edition)

As you can see, there was a shelf full of NYRBs on sale..... I couldn't resist. I know nothing about any of these but bought them based solely on the content on the cover. :-|

...and not a-one of the NYRBs have I read! So you'll be reading and reviewing them this month, yes? *bambi eyes*

ah..... what is NYRB?

How about those Hawks! Watched some yesterday and I'm in love with the QB!

Karen44...New York Review Books, abbreviated. The New York Review of Books started bringing out-of-print classics back in paper editions in 1999.

Richard, absolutely! You know I always read books immediately upon purchasing them. (ha)

Karen, New York Review of Books editions are lovely. You can check out the Classics series here.

Oh, and Karen, I saw some of the game last evening and it was great fun. Russell Wilson is pretty amazing for a second-year pro quarterback. I can't believe the Seahawks are 6-1.

Ha, Richard and I were simul-posting. It takes me a while because I still have to look at "How to do cool stuff on your thread" to remember the html for putting in a link to a website.

Hi Ellen- Just checking in. I also have Americanah on my radar, so I'll be watching for your thoughts. I am sure you will enjoy the Hornby and keep pen & paper handy, he always talks about some terrific books.
Nice book haul. I really like Zweig and would like to read more of him.

Have you heard of Lit Crawl/Seattle? It's coming up on the 24th and it looks like a lot of fun. Here's the link:

http://litcrawl.org/seattle/

>134 EBT1002: sounds a good book to have read. I know myself, that I lead badly. I expect everyone to have the same high standards and speed as myself, and when they dont I get shitty at them, dont verbalise my thoughts, and just work harder to cover their shortcomings. Hence my very short career in team-leading :)

>118 EBT1002: (no one said I commented in the correct order)
SO the not-used copy of White Noise, was it the yummy Penguin (classics deluxe) edition by any chance? I found it used at a crazy-cheap price this year sometime, and love its look so much.

Happy Saturday, Ellen. That Lit Crawl Mark posted (>149 msf59:>) looks interesting. I passed it on to our Seattlelite #1 son.

Popping in to see what you are reading Ellen. Nice little book haul.

Dear Ellen - I am also looking forward to your thoughts on Adichie's latest; she is one of my favourite authors right now and I am eagerly awaiting its arrival here in paperback form.

The NYRB classics are a great addition to the publishing world and I have a few. Your haul of them is impressive too. I particularly like the novels of Brian Moore and, if I'm not mistaken, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne was his debut.

Marks lit-crawl news looks interesting too.

Have a lovely weekend.

This is wild. We went for a hike in the Cascades, beautiful autumn day. Decided to drive back the long way. Gorgeous. But. Sudden stopped traffic - apparently a bad fatality accident just east of Index, 2-4 hour wait. So we and several dozen others made. Our way back to a pub in Skykomish. Drinking an Irish Death, waiting for a Polish Dog, but I didn't bring a book!!! They actually have an assortment but Mary Higgins Clark?? No freaking way. I found a Scott Turow. It will have to do. Thank goodness P is willing to drive because I'll need another Irish Death.

Ellen you can download the Kindle app for free on your phone and load up a few free or fairly cheap books for emergencies. It's not easy to read a book on the phone but it beats not having a book.

I can't believe you didn't have a book! I keep one in the car just for such emergencies. Usually one I have read before but that has parts I might want to go over a second time. Right now I have a book of short stories that tag onto the Delirium series. This is a book I won't get too excited about and won't care if I don't get back to for some time. It should be just interesting enough to keep me reading if I HAVE to read it, but not something I get itchy to read.

How sad that it was an accident...how horrifying that you didn't have a book...how terrific that you found at least something in the bar!

Oh, Ellen, as you finally drove on Highway 2 towards Everett, before you could left turn onto I-5, you drove just past my house... I'm just a couple of miles north of Highway 2. Just saying...

Any way, I'm glad you were able to finally get home. Highway 2, unfortunately, is a bit of a famous road for that kind of thing happening.

Happy Sunday! I hope you can really kick back and get some important reading done now.

All caught up here, Ellen! I did finish The Tourist last night, and although I have not written down any thoughts about it yet, I will say that I loved it. Very twisty plot. I like when a book surprises me, and this one did.

Wishing for you a Sunday full of fabulous!

Hi folks,
Thanks for stopping by and supporting me through my long evening of boredom. The folks in the bar ended up creating quite the spontaneous community -- all of us trapped, some having seen the accident, others having seen the driver driving like a maniac before the accident (some had called 911 to report him).

Made it home safe and sound late last night. Saw the vehicle in the accident being taken away. Terrifying. I've never seen an auto so mangled. The driver died and his pregnant passenger was seriously injured. It's hard to be anything other than furious at that driver.

Anyway, I know I have catching up to do here, but I thought I would just stop in with a couple of quick notes before I run errands that must get run today.

First, of import, I am LOVING Americanah. Oh my. What a wonderful novel.

Next, I wanted to share this photo from The Huffington Post. It was taken by photographer Neil Agate in Tanzania in 2008 and he says he could hear the lions breathing and the little one making little baby roar attempts. If this doesn't make you melt (even you, Richard!), you need to go to the doctor to see what happened to your heart. :-)

...and then the male snapped the cub's neck and left it for dead in his campaign to cleanse the gene pool of his defeated rival's spawn...

>154 EBT1002: LOL about the Irish Death! I had to look it up, but it looks like a tasty beer.

Ammonite sounds really good!

We can always count on our man Richard!

(my heart was melted.... awwwww)

So sorry to hear about your traffic hold-up yesterday, but glad that you were able to find a pub to help you wait. I love that lion picture!

>161 EBT1002: a baby lions roar attempt must be just so cute! hehe, what a shot that one is :)

There's not much more frustrating than having free time and not having your book!

*waving* at Ellen

Ellen - The accident sounds terrifying. I am so happy you are loving Americanah -- it is still one of my top reads this year. Adichie packes so much into it -- immigration, race, etc., yet is all organic, part of the story. I loved it.

I hope you got all of your Sunday errands done.

Happy Monday! Hope your week goes precisely how you wish it to go!

I'm pretty sure I saw Ellen spoor in other threads. Her den is, I see, empty of Ellenness. ?

Driving like a maniac with a pregnant passenger. There are no words.

Missing you on the threads, Ellen, and wishing for you a week full of fabulous!

Hello, everyone. How nice that a few of you have kept my den warm while I have been frantically working, hoping to cram five days of work into the four I have at my disposal this week. Yep, I'm on an early flight to San Diego this Friday. I can hardly wait!! It's for a conference (oh well) at which I am slated to give four (count them, four) presentations. Thank god none of them are solo. And three of them are on topics about which I am excited. And Monday afternoon is our famous free afternoon and I SOOOO have a date with the pool and a book!

#149: Mark, the LitCrawl looks wonderful! If it were not on the night before I have to get up in the wee hours to catch a plane, I would be out there! Thanks for the tip; I will watch for this event next year. I do love living in a literary town. I just finished Americanah and will write comments after I catch up here.

#150: Megan, why on Earth would you feel any need to comment in order? I like the organic approach to LTing.
I think my leadership style has been good for the circumstances in which I have been called to lead. I'm heavy in Relationship Building and I've now led two counseling centers through some very tough times, once after a loathed and mean-spirited director had crushed everyone's spirit, and then simply through five years of financial uncertainty and widespread feelings of despair and anxiety. I was the right person in both of those situations and I don't know that I would have been as successful if a different leadership style had been needed.

My copy of White Noise was new but on sale. That is the edition I captured! It sits very nicely in one's hands. :-)

#151: Joe, yes, the LitCrawl looks like fun. I hope your son can take advantage of it!

#152: Hi Roberta! I just completed Americanah which is going to earn at least 4.5 stars from me.

#153: Paul, the Adichie was delightful. So rich and multilayered. Well-deserving of the praise she has been receiving.
I have to admit that the NYRB editions I bought were bought because (a) they were on sale, (b) the descriptions on the covers sounded interesting, and (c) I can't resist buying books. I'm looking forward to reading a couple of them before the end of the year.

#155: Roberta, I must do this. I didn't check my thread again while in the pub and having access only to my phone, but you are right that, in a pinch, reading something on the phone would be better than pretending I'm enjoying people-watching. The evening ended up being interesting, and I reminded P and myself that we only lost 4 hours of our lives, not our lives......
Thanks for the tip. The app will be downloaded.

#156: Benita, this was a rare and educative experience. As we left the house that morning, I almost brought my book with me. Then I thought "oh Ellen, you're going for a hike in the mountains and then you are coming home. You're not going to sit in a cafe and read, for pete's sake." How wrong I was.

#157: Yes, dear Richard, I am nothing if not resourceful. The Irish Death helped, although I did end up only drinking one of them and staying at the helm of our vehicle for the slow drive home (call me a control freak).

#158: Karen, had I but known! Actually, it wouldn't have helped, I don't think. The line of cars stretched to the east of Index and, by the time all was said and done, it stretched about ten miles. I don't think we could have gotten to your house, but the idea of a few hours with you and Benny and Greta are quite appealing.

#159: Mamie, I'm glad you enjoyed The Tourist. I'll keep it on my shelf and get to it one of these days. Of course, I say that about all 300 (or so) books on those TBR shelves in the corner of my bedroom..... The other day I was saying that 2014 will be more about quality than quantity and that I want to read some authors that have long been on the "must read" list. P gently said "I think you should read at least one book from that pile each month." Yes. Good idea. :-|

162: Richard, yes, nature is cruel, but really. Surely you can admit that just this one young feline is cute?

163: Roni, the Irish Death was quite tasty. Stout, but not too stout.

164: Kath, I think you would enjoy Ammonite. Maybe your library has it?

165: Karen, I'm glad you liked the Lion King picture!

166: Judy, thanks for stopping by! It was quite the adventure. I've since learned that the erratic driver of the Mercedes was a 22-year-old young man. Not sure what was going on with him, but he made some poor choices. Very sad, really.

167: Megan, I know. I think hearing a small lion cub trying to roar must be about the cutest thing one could hear! There are four lion cubs at our Woodland Park Zoo and I wish I could have heard them when they were that itty-bitty.

168: Stacia!!!!! It was Stacia. Did you see her? I saw her.

169: Beth, I really agree. Americanah is multilayered and wonderfully complex, but it reads almost like a chick-lit novel. I hesitate to say that because I don't want to undersell the depth and complexity of her work. It's really outstanding.

170: Karen, thank you. So far, my week has been fine. There was the furnace on the fritz thing, but P will be home tomorrow to meet the furnace fix-it guy. And there is the fact that I only work four days and then head to San Diego for my favorite conference. All in all, not a bad week.

171: Hello, Richard, dear. Yes, I ducked into one or two other threads and ignored my own over the past couple of days. I knew I was falling desperately behind.....

172: Roberta, I could not agree more. The pregnant passenger apparently survived. I hope her passenger did, as well.

173: Mamie, thank you, dear sister. I have missed visiting threads on a more regular basis but life is just jam packed these days. I have been reading, but not so much posting.
I'm looking forward to the upcoming conference for a number of reasons: I will see much loved friends, I will learn some things (maybe), I will see San Diego for my very first time, I will have time to read, AND I will likely do some LTing late at night in my hotel room. :-)

Currently reading:



P got this from the library after reading about it in The Seattle Times. Based upon her recommendation, I'm going to read it next, before she has to return it.

83. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
4.5 stars

Too late this evening for a full review to do this novel justice. It's wonderful. So, just a few comments:

Adichie tells the story of Ifemalu and, to a lesser degree, Obinze. The two fall in love as teenagers in Lagos and lose touch with one another as each of them seeks an exit from their oppressive Nigeria. Ifemalu ends up in the US while Obinze survives a short and unsuccessful stint in the UK. He ends up back in Nigeria where he acquires wealth and property (although how this occurs is never entirely clear). Ifemalu, after several years as a successful blogger and speaker in the US, as well as an assortment of interesting and believable romantic relationships with a variety of men, returns to Nigeria where she finally re-encounters Obinze. This novel is multilayered and complex, although it reads as smoothly as a well-written romance. Neither rancorous nor apologetic, Adichie observes and comments upon American culture, particularly as it revolves around race, from the curious and perplexed perspective of a visitor from a country less steeped in racial self-consciousness. She calls out our absurd reluctance to talk about race but couches her critique in broader, more anthropological notions. And she does all of this while telling a touching, vibrant, and insanely human love story. Highly recommended.

Seventeen more books to 100. I think I might actually make it.

>179 EBT1002: Sounds like a really enjoyable read. Glad it was so irresistible!

Sending happy hugs for your good conference venue.

Ohhh! A trip :) Sounds nice to me right now. Soak up some sun for all of us!

>179 EBT1002:: a touching, vibrant, and insanely human love story
Oh yes, wasn't it? I loved Americanah too. Have fun in San Diego!

Nice review of Americanah, Ellen!

It's not all that surprising that the Seahawks are 6-1 IMO, especially compared to the Chiefs being 7-0 and to the Giants not getting their first win until week 7 of the season.

>175 EBT1002: Apparently some folks are ticked our #1 son isn't one of the performers at the Lit Crawl, Ellen. The Seattle Slam (poetry) management is in disarray, and normally they would have promoted him as the Grand Slam champion as part of it. He's philosophical about it, as usual, but I of course wish things were different. Oh well.

Americanah sounds really good, and it's on my tbr. It sounds like the book I was hoping A Bit of a Difference, also set largely in Nigeria, would be.

The balmy weather in San Diego should be a nice change. Have a great trip.

#181 Richard, I loved it. I can't quite say why I didn't give it 5 full stars. Something about not being quite sure it belongs in "classic and virtually perfect," which is what I think of 5 stars as representing.
Thanks for the conference well-wishes. I will, of course, burn the candle at all three ends, but I will also have fun and I will steal some time for myself.

#182 Kath, I will soak up enough sun for all. Except that I'll be wearing long sleeves and sitting under an umbrella to protect these already sun-damaged and pre-cancerous forearms. :-)

#183 Laura, I'm glad you liked my description of the romantic aspect of Americanah. I generally don't do romance novels, but I loved that the love story was a vehicle for the real content, and barely that. I didn't even realize I would be writing about the romantic aspect of the novel until the very last chapter, even though it is there throughout.

#184 Thank you, Darryl. I'm glad you liked my short review.

I tend to agree with you about the Seahawks. They have really played the most grueling part of their schedule, although there are a couple of tough ones yet to come, and I'm pleased with how they have handled it. My understanding is that the Chiefs have had a very easy schedule so far, so we'll see how they fare when they meet some real competition. I'm shocked about the Giants but since I tend not to be a fan of little brother, I'm okay with it (sorry).

#185 Joe! That sounds wild. I hear that he is philosophical, but does he have a sense of what the reasoning is?
I highly recommend Americanah. I had A Bit of a Difference on one of my lists around here, but it doesn't seem to be getting near the attention that Adichie's novel is getting!

I'm looking forward to the weather in San Diego. Seattle is way below average for rainfall this time of year but the fog has been ferocious. I went for a lovely 29-minute run this morning and I love running in the fog (I love running in almost any inclement weather, as long as it's not too cold), but the rest of the day promises to be a bit bleak.

No rain at least, but it's cool and cloudy today after a week of gorgeous weather. Don't worry, I think the sun is supposed to come out again tomorrow. Of course, we've been fogged in along the coast the last three mornings--weather must have anticipated your arrival.

Ellen, what a wonderful opening photo!

>186 EBT1002: I haven't read Americanah yet, but A Bit of a Difference was A Bit of a Disappointment. The central character was too emotionally suppressed, for one thing, from my POV. Lots of potential there though, and Atta is a skilled writer.

No reasoning on our fair Jesse, just mismanagement. Nobody in charge to promote and place him. He's actually trying to help them get back on their feet at ReBar, but I think he's more invested in a new slam group called Rain City, which operates at Scratch Deli on 12th Ave: https://www.facebook.com/RainCitySlam Our guy is down toward the bottom of the page, reading a new one from his phone (!)

Roni!! I forgot you are in the San Diego area. Okay, please help. What's the one bookstore I must visit while I'm there? I'll be down by the Marina.

Linda, thank you, I'm glad you like it. :-)

Joe, I will keep my eye out for Atta's work.
I'm really sorry to hear that the clearly talented Jesse is caught in that void of management and advocacy. Every young professional needs mentors who can help pave the way. I'm going to investigate Rain City when I get back from San Diego. It's in my favorite neighborhood. :-)
ETA: I went and liked Jesse's photo on the Rain City Slam FB page.

Thanks for the "Like" for our guy, Ellen. We're pretty fond of him, as you can probably tell.

For used books, the Adams Avenue Bookstore up near me. For an independent with mysteries, horror, science fiction and fantasy, Mysterious Galaxy up in Kearny Mesa. There are several bookstores in Hillcrest--Fifth Avenue Books is one although it tends to be overpriced. There really aren't any book stores down near the Marina. And Warwick's in La Jolla is the mainstream indie bookstore that gets all the authors in. Upstart Crow is a coffeehouse/bookstore in Seaport Village. There really is nothing near you, though.

ETA will you be near the downtown marina, or in Marina Village on Mission Bay?

^ Thanks, Roni. I'll be down on Harbor Island Drive..... near the airport.

Looking on line, Adams Avenue Bookstore looks like a good one. I won't have a ton of free time, but I bet I can find my way at least that far. It looks like Rockpile Bookstore is the only one vaguely close to where I'll be.
ETA: Just googled Rockpile. Definitely not the bookstore for me. Oh well.

Oh, dear! Ellen, you have too many bookstores to chose from... how will you stand it?

Too much fun. I wish I were with you. But I must go upstairs and clean out a couple of rooms.

^ Karen, it will be a miracle if I get to even one bookstore while I'm in SD. But I do hope to make it to one, just because I hate going to a major city and not exploring a good bookstore therein.
Of course, having Monday as my free day, I may have to choose between an excursion to a bookstore and a date with the pool and my book. :-)

Good luck with the cleaning out of rooms!

You didn't ask for my advice but I would ditch the bookstores and spend the time by the pool. You live in Seattle, for gosh sakes. Get some sun!

Hi Ellen - Have a great conference. I hope you manage to steal some time for yourself -- and maybe do a little reading.

I have missed almost a week here, how could that be?

Good luck with book shopping and I hope it's a good conference.

Ellen, my unsolicited advice is to wait until the "free day" dawns and then decide. I love being spontaneous. Have a great Thursday, and get done all which has to be done before taking off. Then, have a great trip, and may all your presentations show you off to be the intelligent and charming woman that you are.

Greetings, Ellen!!!!!! Stopping by knowing that I've woefully neglected your thread. Everything looks okie dokie here so time to scroll back and wishlist a couple of books. Have a great day!!

A choice between a bookstore visit and reading by the pool sounds like a good day indeed. Have fun in SD while not conferencing - and while you are, if you can.

I picked up three new books in the past couple of days.

At the bookstore, I bought Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh although I want to read Brideshead Revisited first.

And today I received two books I had ordered from Archipelago:

Lenz by Georg Büchner and
Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski.

I'm off to San Diego early in the morning ----- *smiles broadly*

Have a good trip!

Safe journey, exciting stay, and happy homecoming!

We've been cool and overcast the last two days, but it's supposed to be sunnier over the next few days!

Safe travels and good times!

Ok, I'm thinking about you enjoying the sunshine; and we are still enjoying the fog. I am thinking about what it must have been like to live in London in Dicken's era. Getting lost in the heather or heath...

I am frustrated because I am still caught inside cleaning up for the prospective buyers. I want to be outside playing with the camera in the fog.... maybe later.

Just stopping by to see if there are posts about your adventures.... I hope that whatever they are that you enjoy them!

I love Evelyn Waugh - And yes, you should read them in order.

84. In the Convent of Little Flowers by Indu Sundaresan
4.5 stars

This compact collection of vaguely related short stories is magnificent. The first story has a Seattle connection but the rest of them are set solely in India. Themes of culture and family run strongly through each story. Sundaresan demonstrates a talent for tragedy, but also for redemption and transcendence: redemption from human failings and untenable circumstances; transcendence above the bonds of culture, family, and fear. After exploring the worst that family and culture can mean, the final story brings the reader full circle to the possibility of empowerment. Beautiful.

>210 EBT1002: Sounds wonderful! What a good vacation read.

>179 EBT1002: yup. I like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It's official. And now that I have read two of her books I am completely qualified to say that :)

Hi folks! Just checking in to say that the conference has gone swimmingly so far! Two of my presentations are done, two to go. Not too much time for reading but I'm slowly and happily making my way through Housekeeping vs. the Dirt. It is, as someone predicted, leading me to make a list of more books I want to read. Other than that, it's a wonderful book. Ha.

It has not been sunny in San Diego, for the most part, and I suppose that is good since I've been inside most of the time anyway. I did spend the last couple of hours out by the pool (yep, ditched a session) but had friends there with whom I was chatting, so the book sat languishing beside me. Still, it was lovely to sit outside and be so comfortable.

I don't know when I'm going to be able to catch up on threads. Happy start of a new week to everyone!

Nick Hornby is a leader among Satanic Book Warblers, it is true.

Not a great day to sit out by the pool, unfortunately. Sorry about that, Ellen.

I've got The Polysyllabic Spree on my TBR Someday list. If I read and like that, I'll try Housekeeping vs. the Dirt.

(((Ellen)))!!

Sorry to hear about the terrible accident ~~ :(

I love the LION picture and the lion cub is so cute it's ridiculous!!!

Hi Ellen - I hope the conference is going well, even without sun and all! I've only been to that downtown area of San Diego (near the convention center) and don't think I have a very good sense of the city. The water is lovely. I do remember that.

#210 - In the Convent of Little Flowers sounds wonderful. I'll put it on the list. I do have a few short story collections to get through before this, but I'll get to it.

Richard, Roni, Morphy, Tina, and Kerri, nice to hear from each of you. I did get a bit of poolside time in this afternoon. It was too cool to get in the water but a friend and I chatted and I soaked up warm rays of sun. I also finished Housekeeping vs. the Dirt and tonight, after the banquet associated with this conference, I will start The Lowland.

San Diego is a beautiful city. I wanted to get out to La Jolla as my friend, Steve, who works at USD, says that his favorite bookstore is out there. I was, however, unwilling to spend $50 on a taxi ride for this. The pool met my needs just fine. :-)

Last evening I went with a couple of friends to the Stone Brewery in Liberty Heights. I had a flight of ales (including an Enjoy By, so highly recommended by Mark and Kerri) and then a couple more tastes.... we also shared some friend brussels sprouts and fried olives. It was quite fun and very delicious! I'd go back if it weren't for this banquet.

Heading home tomorrow. The conference has been good but I'm pooped. I have my last presentation tomorrow morning and I'm ready to get back to routine life.

85. Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby
3.5 stars

This was a fun little read. Hornby describes fourteen months' of reading, giving mini-reviews of what he's read each month and providing humorous comparisons and recommendations. I ended up with a list of books I think I'd like to read. However, he didn't really pan any of the books he discussed and, while he blames that on the policies of the journal for which he writes book commentary, it still left me with residual mistrust. If someone loves everything they read (and, to be fair, he didn't love everything he read, but he didn't hate anything, either) it's hard to trust their recommendations. I'm not sure I can say where I pulled 3.5 stars out of my hat. It's a fun and quick read, although the second half flagged a bit. Still, I enjoyed it.

Currently reading:

Okay, without necessarily noting specific posts, I want to respond to a few comments:

Benita, Beth, and Lucy, the conference has been a good one and I have definitely stolen a little bit of time to myself. I did go to the wedding of a colleague from Illinois in Balboa Park. She and her partner of 10 years decided to legally tie the knot and it was a lovely ceremony.

Karen, Lynda, and Joe, I did wait until the day-of (and a couple other opportunities) and made in-the-moment decisions about how to spend my time. So far, I've found a good balance. One of the local bookstores was in the vendor area and had some books other than work-related, so I purchased a copy of Dear Life by Alice Munro to take back with me. I wanted to support her for bringing books to the conference!

Katie, Richard, Roni, and Cee, thank you for your wishes for safe and fun travels!

Karen, I hope you got outside for a little bit with your camera. We ended up having quite a bit of fog here, too, but today was lovely!!

Kath, thanks for stopping by. Not much to really post about (I mean, I really am at a conference! heh) and too little time, too.

Lucy, I'm going to put Evelyn Waugh on my authors-to-read list, which I plan to develop and start digging into early in 2014. I'm kind of excited about this new challenge, to which I will not attach a timeline!

Richard, In the Convent of Little Flowers was a great vacation read. Or travel read, perhaps, since I'm not really on vacation.

Megan, I agree. I have now read two by Adichie and I think she is a marvelous writer. I own Purple Hibiscus and now I want to move it up on the TBR pile. I thought Americanah was outstanding.

Richard, I will look for Nick Hornby's other writings about reading.

Roni, the weather here in your lovely city was a tad disappointing, but it ended up being beautiful when I needed it to be beautiful, so I'm good. I will definitely plan a return to this city; I want to explore it when I don't have conference duties.

Morphy, you can see from my comments that I do recommend Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, although it certainly wasn't life changing. :-)

Tina, thanks for the hug.

Hi Kerri!! I'm so glad you're back on LT!
San Diego is a lovely city and I'm glad I've had the chance to experience it, even though not as widely as I would have liked. I am particularly glad that I got to go to the Stone Brewery!

I'm finicky about short story collections and I thought In the Convent of Little Flowers was really beautifully written. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Off to the banquet. Cheers, everyone!

Evelyn Waugh is one of my often thought about authors. I'm not sure I've read anything by him, but a good friend idealized him, and his work, and that makes me want to pick something and read it. I'll be following what you decide to do with interest.

I am nearing the end of this huge project: pepping the house so it can sell at a good price. My living room, dining room, master bath, guest bath, and the Art Studio (what I'm now calling the craft room) are all done and neat and tidy. The master bedroom, kitchen, and office need a few more minutes of tidying up and we will be ready for our photo shoot tomorrow morning. I'm going to be interested to see what the photographer brings in the way of equipment, lenses, etc. I'd love to do real estate photography, I think, although it might be a challenge to make every home look attractive, even when, maybe, to some people's eyes, not every home is attractive. If you know what I mean.....

I am trying to read Good Omens when I have a few minutes but I just am so slammed right now that I'm not sure I"ll finish it by our next RL group. I hope after the Brokers' Open House I'll have more time on my hands. I kind of like it even though it really is not my kind of book.

I hope the banquet was delizioso and the company was fabOO and the trip home is safe and pleasantly boring.

Hi Karen! I've had Evelyn Waugh vaguely on my authors-to-read list for a while. Even though I purchased Men at Arms, I think I'll try to read Brideshead Revisited first, perhaps early in 2014. It seems to be his most classic work.

I hope all the work you've done on the house pays off and that it sells very quickly. Moving is such an interesting process. As much as I fantasize about moving closer to the UW so that my commute would be shorter, the idea of moving keeps me (us) settled happily in our little home. And I think real estate photography is quite interesting -- a good set of photos can make a difference, I believe. When we went to sell our house in Oregon, the first semi-realtor with whom we worked took lousy photos and the house sat. When we changed realtors, the new guy did a number of things differently, but one thing was that he took more professional photos. It sold in less than a month (and whew!).

I think I have Good Omens on hold at the library, but it hasn't popped up yet....

Richard, the food was meh, but the dancing was delightful. There is always a DJ after the banquet at this conference and it's the one night of the year when I do some serious rug-cutting. I love it!

Now to bed......

I'm reading The Lowland too ... about halfway through it. Looking forward to comparing notes with you!

Happy recovery day!

Hi Ellen - I hope you had a hassle-free trip home!

Housekeeping vs. the Dirt might be a good audiobook candidate - I may check it out.

Too far behind! Glad that the conference was a rousing success + your day.
I see Americanah in my future, but I really have to read down the newest on Kindle first. I read Ammonite so long ago that I don't remember anything but enjoying it greatly. What I most remember is the gong.........
Enjoy your weekend!

No new thread yet, eh?

Just a quick wave, not able to catch up... but I don't want to lose track of you.

Hey, Ellen, I suppose it was busy getting back from the conference and catching up during your shortened "work week". Hope all is well.

I'm not sure how well Waugh's work has aged. I was planning to read Scoop this year but I'm not sure that I'll get round to it after all.

Sorry I have been around less than usual Ellen but my eyes have been giving me a little grief. Better now thankfully.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Morning Ellen- We were in San Diego a couple years ago and loved it. I wish we could have found time to visit Stone Brewery. It's one of our favorite beers. I love the fact that most of the bars, in that area, have Stone beers on tap.
Are you joining us for housekeeping? I still plan on going to Oregon in late January. I'll be putting in my vacation time soon. Mark the calender.

Stopping in to wish you a weekend full of fabulous, Ellen!

Hi, Ellen. Hope you are reading happily! And enjoying the weather, too. Good for reading. Staying home. Relaxing. All those and more reading, too.

Whew! What a re-entry. The travel was fine. I even got on an earlier flight so I got home at a reasonable hour on Wednesday. But catching up at work was crazy and I've been trying to finish The Lowland which is due back to the library today. I completed it last night. Hooray for the extra hour!!! So, I'm going to spend a little time this morning trying to catch up around here, but (of course) we have several errands to run, the Seahawks are on at 1:00, and P wants to go to see the very highly ranked Huskies volleyball team play their match at 3:00. I want a whole day to sit on this red leather couch and do nothing but read. Oh well.

86. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
4 stars

This is the rambling story of two brothers, born and raised in Calcutta, coming of age during the era of Mao Tse Tung, Lenin, and Charu Majumder. One brother becomes involved in the revolutionary Naxalbari movement, sparked after an incident in 1967 when police opened fire on a group of peasant villagers claiming their right to the crops they had raised. With this backdrop of international conflict over communism and workers' rights, we follow the story of the two brothers and their family all the way to the present day. It's hard to write about this novel without a spoiler, so I will just say that the characters are richly developed, the narrative is crisp and lovely, and the story very engaging. It didn't lose me in the last quarter, which novels too frequently do, although I struggled a little bit with Lahiri's approach to various family members' efforts to heal ruptures (and we're talking serious ruptures in relationships here, folks) as the novel wound toward its end. The resolutions were both too clean and too absolute. Perhaps that was intentional, but after the rich exploration of her characters' motivations throughout, this fell just a wee bit short for me. Still, I highly recommend this rewarding read.

Welcome home, Ellen! Glad you made it safe and sound. I'll be cheering for your Seahawks today since they are not playing the Broncos or the Colts. Go Seahawks!!

#228: Laura, you can see my brief comments about The Lowland above. I'll be interested in how you liked it.

#229: Thank you, Richard. It ended up being recovery dayS and I'm not sure I'm done yet. I'm glad I get Veterans' Day as a holiday so I'm looking ahead to a 3-day weekend.

#230: Hi Kerri! I think Housekeeping vs the Dirt would be a good audiobook. I wonder who has narrated it. As I said, I found myself making a few notes about books I might like to read and I enjoyed Hornby's irreverent sense of humor. I think you'd enjoy this as a quick listen.

#231: Peggy, I hope you have Americanah in your future! And you cracked me up saying that what you remember from Ammonite is the gong. I had already forgotten that bit, but now I will remember it well. :-)

#232: Richard, I was just thinking this morning that it's time for my November thread. Next year I plan to do several things differently but one of them is to number rather than name my threads. I'm going for simple and straightforward in 2014.

#233: Kath, thanks for keeping track of me. :-)

#234: Hi Roni! You got it right. Thursday and Friday were intensely busy (I had a presentation at 8am Friday, and that's after doing four presentations at the conference!). But I did get caught up on some things and that felt good. You know, I love my job and, while I fantasize about winning the lottery and retiring to Kauai, it feels good to accomplish things.

#235: Paul, I have indeed missed you but I have been similarly less present on the threads. I'm sorry your eyes have been bothering you and glad they are better (?) ---- for a reader (and poster) like you, having your eyes act in any way outside the norm would be disconcerting!

#236: Hi Mark, I think I'll see if I can get a copy of Housekeeping to read this month. I doubt I'll participate actively in the Group Read, but I'll star the thread (is there a thread?) and lurk a bit.

Going to the Stone Brewery (I think it was their second one, rather than the main one in Escondido) was a great treat. And yesterday we went to one of the better hip grocery stores in Seattle and I bought some 16oz bottles of various ales and ciders, including a couple of ales from Stone.

I see that Booktopia! is going to be in Asheville next August. I had hoped for that and I would sign up were it not scheduled for about one week before our trip to Scotland. Oh well.

#237: Thank you, Mamie!! It's been a good weekend so far and I think we just figured out our day today such that I can watch at least the first part of the Seahawks game. :-)

#238: Hi Karen. How about that wind yesterday? I went for a 28-minute run in that and it was brutal. One of our Japanese maple lost about two thirds of its leaves yesterday. But at least we didn't lose power like so many others in the area did.

I checked and I'm still in the queue for Good Omens -- I'm #21 on 11 copies, so I will get it pretty soon but probably not in time for our book group. Also, our book group is scheduled to meet on Veterans' Day, right? Will we still meet? I'll go over to the thread to check, but I just realized this. I know it's not a major holiday, but I do get the day off. That doesn't mean I can't come to book group, but it's a much longer trek.

Ellen! 11/11 is my birthday, too. And i will go to the book group. (I have no life….) So I expect you could make it.

^Karen! Since it's your birthday, I will prioritize making it to book group regardless of whether I've gotten my hands on the book. We'll celebrate (but won't embarrass you, I promise)!!!

*reminder to self: send strippergram to book club not open house*

#246
Thanks Richard for reminding me that was needed and part of Karen's b-day gift. I'll send her the porno birthday card. The one with the elephants kissing.

*grinning*

Hi Ellen - Interesting comments about The Lowland. I loved it overall, but for me, the political stuff didn't really work. I thought she was trying to write a BIG novel that made a statement, but, like you, the relationships and the people were the strongest part.

What did you think of the way she treated Gauri - I thought she was pretty unsypathetic towards her -- and it reminded me of Gogol's wife in The Namesake...

Have a great, productive, restful Sunday.

Ellen, I just read your comments on The Lowland, after also seeing your comments on my thread. Yep, looks like we had very similar reactions to the book.

>249 BLBera:: "unsympathetic" towards Guari: oh yeah. But I liked it that way, myself.

Hi Ellen,
The Lowland- its cover just doesn't do much for me. I am such a cover-snob. I like the way her name is written, but the title itself looks too basic. I dont know. Is spite of your relatively high star rating, I am not sure I will prioritise this one.

>243 EBT1002: sorry your Japanese Maple lost so many leaves in one hit, they are gorgeous trees aren't they?! Not much hope for getting a new set of leaves before winter sets in I suppose.

That extra hour was nice. I also like that I'm no longer walking to the train in complete darkness. I actually would have to whip out the flashlight for parts of my journey (and probably looked a little silly).

#240 - While I don't think I'll get to this, I'm glad you liked it - nice review!

I hope things ease up a bit this week!

Ellen my friend its been way to long. RL tries to drag me down but I won't let it. Lots of good reading I see.

87. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel
4 stars



I'm not sure what led the intrepid Alison Bechdel to call this "a comic drama." I guess it is funny at moments and it's certainly a graphic depiction of Bechdel's efforts to sort through her painful relationship with her mother. But it's so much more than that. It's an exploration of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. In Alison's own words, it's a self-absorbed, solipsistic piece of work. Okay, her words are harsher than that, but I think this is a lovely piece of work. As a therapist myself, and as one who has witnessed the possible power of therapy, and as one who holds a healthy dose of cynicism about the privileged waste of time that navel-gazing therapy can be...... well, this is just the kind of exploration I can wrap my head around. I applaud Bechdel's honest portrayal of her attachment (transference) to her therapists, pseudo-named Jocelyn and Carol. The intensity of her attachment and her apparent ability to shed the shame that accompanies such attachment emerge as cornerstones to her healing. I also love her consideration of Virginia Woolf's life and work; I will be reading To the Lighthouse very soon.

Alison Bechdel was apparently born one month after I was; this contributes to my enjoyment of her work. Her references to pop culture of the 1970s and lesbian culture of the 1980s resonate. And her drawings of cats are spot on.

I hope she is working on another graphic novel or memoir or whatever.

It does seem as though you enjoyed that book! That is so great. I love it when a book just gives me some joy, and it seems as though this one might have done this for you.

I finished Housekeeping and do recommend it. It is not a long book, but it is a lovely ride.

Happy Tuesday!

Hi Ellen - I loved Are You My Mother?, too. There were so many moments that were "typical" mother-daughter moments. And I loved the way she wove Woolf into the work -- the therapy I also found interesting, but it didn't resonate as much with me as it did with you.

I've enjoyed both her memoirs and will certainly read another by her.

Having obsessed with Woolf and my share of therapy, plus, of course, being a daughter and now a mother - the Bechdel was riveting.

Let's hope she is hard at work on something new!

**Spoiler Alert**
If you have not yet read The Lowland and you plan to do so, you may want to skip this post.

249, 250 -- Beth and Laura I was embarrassingly ignorant about the Naxalites before reading The Lowland. I agree that the political thread felt loose at times, but it was hard for me to gauge. And I agree that it felt, at times, like Lahiri was trying to "do too much" with this novel. When I would turn the page and the narrative had shifted to a different character and a decade (or two) had passed, I would think "okay, so this is the next chapter in their lives unfolding." I found myself waiting for something big to happen. And, as the story progressed, I realized that "the big thing" had happened very early on. Lahiri appeared to be exploring the lasting impact of the trauma and its immediate descendants on the family in the long run. Intergenerational effects of trauma are immense (ask any 50-year-old whose grandparents perished in the Holocaust) and that seemed to be her focus. I agree that she was unsympathetic to Gauri, but I also despised Gauri's choices. Interestingly, I was more angry at her for returning in the manner she did than I was at her for disappearing in the first place. I read and loved The Namesake but I remember too little of it. I think I will go back and read it again.

246, 247, 248 -- Richard, Benita, and Karen, I stand speechless. And that happens so rarely!

251 -- Megan, you know, I'm a total cover slut snob. There is a subtle reason, subtly disclosed within the story, for this particular cover design. I'm surprised the publisher let them do it this way because the cover only "works" after you read the novel!

Regarding our Japanese Maples (actually, we have two in our front yard), P had taken a photo the day before the wind-storm, not knowing that she would take a "24 hours later" photo that would look so different!

252 -- Kerri, I know you have said that The Lowland has not been calling to you. Is there a particular reason for your lack of interest? I seem to recall that you read and were disappointed by The Namesake. That is one of the perils of the hype around a successful book in its first months after publication. I know I have to be careful -- and I sometimes fail at this -- to stay in my own head and heart when I read something that "everyone else" has loved. It makes it hard for me to clearly hear my own reactions. I'm not sure whether you would like The Lowland.

Thanks for the wishes for things to ease up. I must say that I'm very much looking forward to Thanksgiving break.

253 -- Roberta, so good to see you! I completely hear you about RL dragging you down. I know we say it a lot around here but it still seems unfair that life should be so busy. Of course, I could say no to one or two things... ha! Anyway, thank you for stopping by.

255 -- Karen, I have put Housekeeping on hold and should get it pretty soon. I think I will get that one before I get my hands on the Gaiman book. I may just let the Gaiman go and enjoy the conversation next Monday with no preconceived notions. :-)

256 -- Beth, I'm so glad you loved Are You My Mother?. I loved it but kept wondering how many readers she lost with her exploration of Winnicott and his contemporaries. I adore Bechdel's inclusion of her therapy experiences in her work. She often included therapy scenes in her series Dykes to Watch Out For, which was an important accompaniment to the third decade of my life (both therapy and the comic series - ha!).

257 -- Lucy, I agree! I mean, except for being a mother. But I did the other thing that she references in Are You My Mother? and became a therapist, so it loops all the way around. I think I will look for a blog or something to see if I can learn what Bechdel is up to these days. As I read this one, I thought "she should live in Seattle" but I think she is a devoted New Englander. :-)

I know it's time for a new thread..... perhaps later today!

I have caught up with you just before you start a new thread, Ellen. San Diego is one of my favorite U.S. Cities. My youngest son moved there after college graduation. He was going to write the next great American novel! After a year of waiting tables at CPK, he got his master's in accountancy! At least he went for his dream before RL got hold of him.

I loved Good Omens. Wish I could join you and Karen at your book group.

>259 EBT1002:: There is a subtle reason, subtly disclosed within the story, for this particular cover design. I'm surprised the publisher let them do it this way because the cover only "works" after you read the novel!

Ellen, can you enlighten me on this subtlety? I think it went over my head, or at least unnoticed. Feel free to do this via PM if you don't want to mention it here. Thanks!

Ellen- No, I did not start a Group Read thread for Housekeeping but I plan on doing one for The View from Castle Rock, which starts about mid-month.
I just did not care for Are You My Mother?. It got on my nerves, all that whiny, angsty stuff. Ugh! Loved Funhome, though!

How are you this morning, Ellen? :-)

#254 - Great review! I liked it too and gave it 4 stars. I admit that the Winnicott stuff wore me out a little, but overall I really liked it, particularly the mom relationship stuff and those bizarre phone calls they have.

Alison Bechdel has a blog: http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/blog. Apparently there is...um...a musical of Fun Home. It recently debuted in New York

#259 - Oh, I don't want to badmouth The Namesake. I know a lot of people love it. It just sort of fell flat for me. It probably didn't help that I read it in a class right after The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Currently reading:

>266 EBT1002:

262 -- Donna, well you have caught up on my thread but I am desperately behind on everyone's thread these days! I feel pretty badly that I check in on my own thread but have not found time to visit my friends' threads. I hope to be a better LT buddy after .... well, after what? I ask myself. Ha.

In any case, Donna, I wish you could join us for Book Group, too. We always have good discussion even if someone hasn't read the book. We're currently engaged in choosing books for 2014 which I am very much enjoying!

263 -- Laura at the risk of *spoiler about The Lowland* (okay, pretty mild spoiler, this), I'll say that I figured it had to do with the little bit about creating handmade covers for books -- I think more than one character mentioned this at different points. Since the cover looks like a handmade cover for a book (I remember doing that in junior high way back when), I thought that might be the connection. Not profound, but at least it made me more compassionate for the boring cover. Heh.

264 -- Mark, yeah, I think Are You My Mother? would only appeal to a limited audience. At least she recognizes her own self-absorbed, navel-gazing tendencies.
I think I should get copies of both Housekeeping and The View from Castle Rock in time to participate, although (as I think everyone knows), my participation level is low these days.

265 -- Kerri, hello there! I am fine this morning, thank you. I did attend a gathering for one of our mayorial candidates last night (he won -- yay!), so my head is a bit sore but I still did a 29-minute run at 6:30am. :-)

Oh yeah, the phone calls with mom were one of the great features of Are You My Mother?. So funny.
Thanks for the link to Alison's blog. I have happily bookmarked it. :-)

You know, I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and I hardly remember it (I read it pre-LT and I tended to remember things less well because I didn't engage with other human beings about what I was reading). I think I need to read it again.

267 -- Richard, um, I take it you think the book I'm currently reading is engrossing? I am enjoying it so far. :-)

I'm eagerly awaiting your verdict. I had some...strong...opinions about the book.

>268 EBT1002:: I figured it had to do with the little bit about creating handmade covers for books
Oh! That makes sense. Thanks Ellen.

Hi Ellen - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is definitely worth more than one read. I love that book. I can see how The Namesake would pale next to it, but I loved that one, too.

I agree about the phone calls in Are You My Mother? -- and all of the guilt trips -- I think all daughters would identify with that part of it. I found the therapy parts funn/fascinating, too although the rest of my book club did not.

I'll be anxious to hear what you think of We Need New Names. I have it from the library and hope to get to it this month -- or it will have to go back unread because others are waiting for it.

Sigh. I wish reading was a job.

270 -- Well, Richard, you know I'll post my thoughts, though they may be less strong than yours. xo

271 -- Glad I could at least offer one speculation, Laura!

272 -- Beth, oh yeah. I am 100% on board with wishing that reading could be my job. It would be heaven, I just know it would.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Time for a new thread!